Borough denied in Concord as crossbar comes to rescue

Eastbourne Borough struck the crossbar three times as they suffered defeat at Concord Rangers last Saturday.

Tommy Widdrington’s side went down 3-1 during an entertaining and open contest at Thames Road.

The results leaves Borough 12th in the National League South with just one win from their last five matches.

Concord scored with their first chance on five minutes. Taylor Miles played a slide rule pass to Dion Sembie-Ferris in the box, who laid the ball onto Tony Stokes who rode a challenge and slotted casually home from 10 yards.

Borough responded swiftly and hit the bar on seven minutes, Nat Pinney avoided a few challenges then with the outside of his boot fired in a shot. Vose was beaten in the Concord goal, but the ball hammered against the bar and away.

Widdrington’s men pressed again on ten minutes and from a corner it looked like Elliott Romain had a simple task to tap the ball home, but Bailey Vose pulled off a remarkable save to keep the ball out.

Both sides played good football, and the next chance mid-way through the first half fell to Borough. Pinney was unmarked in the box, and it looked like all he had to do was head the ball home to level the match, but he plonked his header against the bar.

The bar was rattled again on 30 minutes but this time it led to a goal. Concorde’s Lyle Delle-Verde unleashed a strike, it hit the underside of the bar and Tony Stokes forced the ball over the line. After a brief chat with a frozen linesman, he confirmed that the goal was indeed Stokes’.

Borough deserved a goal and they got one from a Concord corner.

The corner was safely gathered by Jordan Holmes and from a quick throw out he found Christian Oxlade-Chamberlain.

He outpaced the Concord defence and laid on a simple cross for Romain to tap home.

The second half was tighter but Borough created the first chance from a set-piece on 56 minutes. Once again the cross bar came to the rescue as Ian Simpemba’s header crashed back off the woodwork.

Eastbourne pressed for an equaliser and so nearly got it but Bailey Vose again pulled off a magnificent save to deny Mark Hughes. Vose, a Brighton loanee, was in top form throughout.